Hope Flashcards
(9 cards)
Main point of comparison between Oranges and White Writing
- the challenges to the social order inspire a sense of hope for the future of women, particularly homosexual relationships.
- In both, the sense of hope brought about by their challenges to the social order on an individual level is tinged by the lasting legacy of patriarchal oppression
Oranges and White Writing - ORANGES
- The orange demon, a Blakian poetic manifestation of her sexuality which becomes a motif is a symbol of her gradual aceptance of her sexuality - by doing this she subverts evangelical demonism, turning something associated with fear into a symbol of hope for her.
- ‘you’ll have a difficult, different time’ - Modern Times seems to show that the difficult lives of non-conformists are necessary for change
- ‘there are threads that help you find your way back, and there are threads which intend to bring you back’ - lasting legacy of patriarchal oppression.
- ‘I could have been a priest instead of a prophet’ - she reflects on how she could have made the easier choice - thus hope generated by escaping the society is tinged with pain and regret
Oranges and White writing - WHITE WRITING
- ‘palm against palm, lifeline, heartline’ - the speaker accepts LGBTQ relationships are not protected by the ‘black ink’ of laws and societal approval due to Helene Cixous’s idea of white ink hat women write in.
- their love is instead is the only protection they have - this places them both in a situation of vulnerability, but it is also a symbol of strength.
- this evokes an image of unity and a tone of togetherness - yet the disparity between society and same sex couples is highlighted and the reader is remembered of their fragility
- the syllabic structure of the poem serves to mirror the heartline and lifeline, creating a sense of consistency and regularity
- ‘words on the wind, traced with a stick where we walk in the sand’ - this ghostly metaphor reflects the untraceable history of same sex couples, emphasising their washed away history
‘foam in a wave, we lift up our skirts in the sea, wade’ - tone of frustration climaxes
White Writing and the Laughter of Stafford girls high - main point of comparison
- challenges to the social order evoke a sense of hope and strength generated by female power, challenging the patriarchal status quo
White Writing and the laughter of Stafford girls high - TLOSGH
-‘Troutbeck, wash…the sound of the laugh of Emily Jane was a liquid one’ - laughter disrupts the list, suggesting that it is useless, overvalued knowledge which represents patriarchal control
‘the girls had been kept indoors at break’ - restrictive nature of patriarchy
‘she felt her heart flare in its dark cave, hungry, blind; - allusion to plato’s caves, light = knowledge,
‘the streets were empty, darkly sparkling under her feet’ - possibility, the world is open to her
White writing and the laughter of Stafford girls high - WHITE WRITING
- ‘I write them white’ - repeated refrain reclaims power and recognition typically denied from same sex couples
‘My lips on yours, light in the soft hours of our married years’ - suggests creation of a new ceremony for same sex couples.
Contrasts the freedom and unity of homosexual relationships v. restrictive heteronormative laws - ‘your soul a flame, bright in the window of your maiden name’ - motif of light symbolises the duality of female identity, reflecting male domination
oranges and the laughter of Stafford girls high
hope comes from female strength and the innately resilient nature of the female experience - however, with Duffy;s poem, it focuses on the collective generated strength of women together, whereas Winterson focuses on the individual - reflecting a sense of isolation which generates pathos for Jeanette
Oranges and the laughter of Stafford girls high - The laughter of Stafford girls high
- images of collective female power:
‘a cauldron of noise’ - witchn imagery, reckaims charge of non-conformist women - ‘recession of trills and whoops’ - choir of voices
- ‘you girls have laughed this once great school into the ground’ - power of female collective action
‘a round of applause crashed on the board like surf’ - extended metaphor of laugh as water
Oranges and the laughter of Stafford girls high - oranges
- novel is dominated by a sense of isolation
- her temporary deafness reflects this - ‘I had assumed myself to be in a. state of rapture - ‘it’s the lord’ - religious dogma replaces motherly love, motif of oranges becomes a metaphor for this -
- ‘the hills surrounded us’ - insular nature of community
- Jeanette’s rewriting of her childhood through the retrospective narration allows her to infuse the novel with a sense of hope - meta narratives, and challenging biblical authority through play
- brown pebble - crosses from fantasy into realism, serving as a symbol of hope.
